IGN Comics: I'm sure a lot of fans that haven't read the series previously will be jumping on board after this announcement. Will readers be able to pick up your run without any previous knowledge of the Secret Avengers?

Warren Ellis: Yes. Secret Avengers has an incredibly simple setup. Run the mission. Don't get seen. Save the world. Easy. The frontispiece tells you everything about the characters you need to know.

IGN Comics: What attracts you to this Avengers team specifically, as opposed to the classic lineup or the New Avengers?

Warren Ellis: You make it sound like I get my choice of Marvel jobs! No, what happened was, Ed Brubaker was leaving the book, and he suggested me to replace him. I'm still under contract at Marvel, and they can take my house away if I turn down a job. Which is why I'm writing the Spectacular Spider-Ham: The Vicodin Years book that's also being announced this weekend.

IGN Comics: For the record, I'd buy the hell out of that book. So, can you tell us how long you'll be on board the series for?

Warren Ellis: Right now, six issues. I said to Tom [Brevoort], I'll do six, and if I haven't completely screwed the deadlines, I'll do you another six. But if the book falls late, I'll bail out and you can hand off to someone who's actually professional. So we'll see.

IGN Comics: How do you see the role of the Secret Avengers team in the context of the greater Marvel Universe?

Warren Ellis: The thing that I like about them -- that also makes it easy for me to step in for a while until they find a writer they actually like -- is that they don't have a context in the greater Marvel Universe. They operate under the radar and out of sight. If they did in fact have a broader continuity context, the book's central concept would break.

IGN Comics: In regards to the Secret Avengers operating out of context, do you find any similarities in this team that may carry over from your experience writing Thunderbolts? Any character you could see being a member of either team?

Warren Ellis: Not so much. One thing that does change the nature of the book is that my six issues are all self-contained single issues. So they're all about working through each book's mission, which doesn't leave much space for the characters to do anything other than be who they are.

Moon Knight could have been a member of either team. Insofar as he is, as Henry McCoy describes him in my first issue, a borderline psychotic who wears a white bag over his head.

IGN Comics: Well, we're definitely delighted about the news, and we can't wait to see what you cook up!